From The Ashes of a Strawberry
by Ayasegawa
Summary: This is the story of Karin and Yuzu becoming shinigami, growing up and coping with the death of their brother. It takes place after Aizen's rebellion and during a relatively peaceful time in Soul Society. Reviews are greatly appreciated!
1. The Twin Phoenixes

Chapter 1 – The Twin Phoenixes

"You did so well today, Karin!" said Yuzu ecstatically, "That winning shot was amazing; I'll be sure to bake you something extra special when we get home"

"Ha! It's nothing, Yuzu. It's just what I'm good at . . . sort of like how you're a great chef!" replied Karin in a humbling tone.

Yuzu pondered this for a moment and then replied quickly, "Yeah, I guess you're right, but it was still a great shot." Karin smiled, and the two girls continued walking home together. The rest of the walk was rather quiet, for both of the girls were in their own worlds. Yuzu thinking about her entire family, while Karin continuously thought of how great of a sister Yuzu was.

Yuzu and Karin kept walking down the oh-so familiar path to home at a steady pace, staring at the scenery and other various things. "Look, Karin." Yuzu said, "The sun looks so pretty this evening." Karin shrugged this comment off, because she wasn't particularly interested. Slightly agitated, Yuzu decided to prod Karin to get her attention. Karin quickly turned around and nodded in agreement.

Karin paused and looked up to the sun. _Yeah, it really is beautiful today_, she thought to herself. Suddenly, Karin felt a strange tingling in her stomach. She had this feeling a few times before, and she knew exactly what it was. She grabbed Yuzu and said what seemed spontaneous to Yuzu, "Hey, Yuzu, I was wondering if you would be up for going a different way home this time." Yuzu looked at her awkwardly, shrugged and nodded in agreement.

Karin then grabbed her by the arm, and took a sharp right turn onto a different street, instead of going straight as they normally did. Now, at a more hurried pace, Yuzu had a little trouble keeping up with Karin by merely walking. As Yuzu jogged to catch up with the ever-quickening Karin, she stopped when she noticed a large, black tear in the sky. "Karin, what is that in the sky?" Yuzu anxiously inquired. Karin paused and tilted her head up sluggishly. She then paused in shock; she could barely bring the words out of her mouth, "Yuzu, run!" Yuzu looked at her baffled, and then Karin only pushed forward and repeated, "Run!"

Both girls ran at a full sprint in the opposite direction. In a stuttered speech, Yuzu asked Karin, "Why are we running? What is that thing, Karin?" Karin only continued to run. Yuzu asked again, and then Karin finally replied, "There is no time now, just keep running." Soon, enough, there was half of a body of a large, demon-like creature with a white bone-like mask on its face, slowly prying its way out of the rip in space. Then, there was a great roar across the plane. Yuzu turned around and saw the beast. In astonishment, Yuzu fell and shouted Karin's name. Karin rapidly turned back to aid Karin, but it was almost too late. The creature had already gotten out of the hole and was heading in their direction.

Helping her now-injured sister from the ground, she dragged her slowly upon her shoulder. This proved useless, but she would not leave her sister there to die. As the beast drew closer, she let her sister down and retrieved her soccer ball from her mesh-bag that was strewn upon her back. The beast was now only around fifty feet away from them. Karin was terrified, but she braved through her fear in order to protect her sister. As she dribbled the spotted ball between her legs, the beast only stared. Soon, she let out a cry and launched the ball with all of her might towards the tremendous ogre. As the ball whizzed through the air, it emitted a faint, yellow glow, and made a faint whistling sound, like a small bird continuously chirping on one note in the distance.

The ball then battered the beast, which caused a cloud of dust to surround its shoulder. Karin stood there and merely glared at the monster; Yuzu, also staring in anticipation noticed the beast was not phased by Karin's attack. It then chuckled and unhurriedly neared closer to the girls as a red and black ball of energy started to form in front of its mouth. Then, there was a small silhouette, which eclipsed the sun that swiftly descended down from the sky in front of Yuzu and Karin. "Ichigo!" the girls howled in excitement and relief. Ichigo glanced back at the two and then returned his stare at the beast. "Ah! So you must be pretty strong if you can use cero, hollow." Ichigo sarcastically joked to the hollow.

The hollow's eyes then shifted from amusement to anger, and the energy that was being collected in the form of a sphere in front of the hollows mouth bulleted forward towards Ichigo and the girls. Ichigo snickered and then raised his colossal blade just above his head. When the beam hit his zanpakuto, he tossed his arm wielding the blade to the right of his body. When this happened, the cero blast was deflected to that same direction.

Ichigo then moved toward the hollow so quickly, that neither Yuzu, nor Karin could see him. When he reappeared, he was adjacent to the hollow. Confused by where Ichigo had gone, the hollow frantically looked around to find Ichigo. When he finally saw him, he jutted backwards to evade any upcoming attacks. Ichigo then pushed the hollow even further backward with the flat of his blade, as a titanic, yellow ray of light descended upon him. When he was completely engulfed by the ray, he recklessly tried to break out; all efforts were unsuccessful.

The hollow stared at Ichigo and chuckled, "What a pleasant surprise" he said in a raspy voice, "instead of rescuing me, they caught themselves a powerful Shinigami. Too bad, too; now you can't save these two girls, no matter how hard you try"

Infuriated, Ichigo replied, "Bastard!"

The hollow only laughed as Ichigo proceeded in his ascent towards the legion of hollows. The hollow then continued towards Yuzu and Karin. The girls, staring in astonishment and fright, quickly reversed their feelings to anger and hate. Both girls let out a shriek as they saw Ichigo disappear into Hueco Mundo. Soon, their emotions stirred, depression, anger and fear moved them into hate. When this hate was formed, an imbalance in their untapped source of reiatsu was unlocked; soon, the reiatsu went through their entire body, eventually, it reached their spirit chains. As the chain was induced with the great amount of reiatsu, the chain started to dismantle; bit by bit each segment started to disappear, once the final chain broke, the ground started to break beneath them and a faint glow continuously developed larger around their small bodies. Soon, the glow altered itself into a large explosion of energy as Yuzu rose from the ground, which formed a cloud of dust and debris around the street. When the dust cleared, it revealed Yuzu and Karin in a black kimono, with a katana at each of their side. "We look like, Ichigo, Yuzu." Karin said in amazement.

Yuzu was about to utter something, but was then interrupted the by hollow, "My, my, three shinigami in just one night. What a treat." The hollow then began to collect energy in front of its mouth again. The girls were not fearful of this and only unsheathed their swords. As their naked blades glimmered in the light of the cero, the girls gazed at the hollow ready to attack, but then, almost instantaneously a large man with a beard and a shinigami captain's uniform appeared behind the hollow. The hollow whipped around to see what was going on, but before it could make even a 180 degree turn, it was cut in half and dissolved into the wind. Yuzu and Karin stared and then gasped.

"Dad?" both girls shouted simultaneously. The man pivoted towards them and only grinned.


	2. Isshin's Explanation

Chapter 2 - Isshin's Explanation

"Yuzu, Karin, are you okay? I sensed Ichigo's reiatsu and then it disappeared." Isshin stated with a hint of urgency, but still in a state of composure. The girls looked at him in a melancholy fashion and bowed their heads. Yuzu then raised her head and spoke, "A hollow came out of a black hole, and then a yellow light took Ichigo away". _Negacion_, Isshin thought to himself, after having a brief hint of gloom in his face, he turned to the girls and smiled. As he walked over to them, he stared to in the eye and got down to their eyelevel by kneeling on one knee. He grabbed both girls by the shoulder and said, "It'll be okay, Ichigo is strong. He isn't dead; he is just in another dimension." The girls' expression of misery was now gone, but they still refused to put a smile on their face.

"I guess it's now time for me to explain everything to you guys" Isshin said reluctantly. Isshin, Yuzu and Karin then started walking toward their original route home. The girls then turned to their original route home, but Isshin then stopped them, "Now that you're shinigami, you two need to remember something" the girls looked at him in confusion and he pointed to their lifeless bodies. "Oops!" the girls giggled a bit and then walked back to their bodies, Yuzu then touched hers and was gradually absorbed by it. Karin then did the same, and they walked by the side of their father home. After a few minutes of walking, they saw their house and had a little less stress upon them.

When they entered, a kettle was boiling and there was what seemed to be a person sleeping on the kitchen chair in front of them. The girls gasped, and then Isshin walked into it. Once he was in his body, he walked over to the steaming kettle and grabbed three cups from the cupboard above him. "I suggest you girls sit because we're going to be talking for awhile." Isshin said placidly. Yuzu and Karin then took their respective seats. After Isshin took a whiff of the steaming kettle, he walked over with the two cups and placed them on the table. As he poured the olive liquid into the cups, the girls took them and Yuzu looked at hers, "Wow! Dad, this tea looks great." Isshin then smiled at her, after which, he stood up and posed in a boastful fashion. Yuzu laughed, but Karin only stared at him angrily. Karin then removed her shoe and tossed it at his head, "Shut up, Goat-chin. This is freaking serious!" she yelled at him in disappointment and embarrassment.

A smile was bestowed upon Isshin's slightly red faced. _At least one thing is still normal around here_, he thought to himself. He then nodded at Karin, which told her he was sorry; she nodded back at him and he sat down. "So, what is the first question that comes to mind?" Isshin asked the girls inquisitively. The two girls both looked at each other and then Yuzu took a great breath in, after which she rapidly asked a series of questions. "Whoa, slow down there. Let's start off with your first question; what was it again?" Isshin said in a joking fashion Yuzu sighed and replied, "What is a shinigami". Isshin smiled, he was hoping for this question. "A shinigami is, in most cases somebody who has passed away and had enough reiatsu to gain powers beyond the grave, which for the most part, are used to kill hollows. A shinigami has one specific weapon, his or her zanpakuto. Before you're confused by this; a zanpakuto is an extension of your soul, but it is also its own soul at the same time. It also has three states: sealed, shikai and bankai. The sealed state is its original state; the one you saw when your transformation was finished. Shikai or 'first release' is an ability which transforms your zanpakuto to make it stronger. Attaining shikai means that you have finally spoken to your zanpakuto's spirit. Finally, bankai or 'second release' is a shinigami's strongest ability. In most cases, it makes you five to ten times stronger than you normally are. Achieving bankai means you've finally gained full control over your zanpakuto."

Yuzu and Karin only stared at their for once, serious father and then exclaimed in bewilderment, "Wow! Is there anything else we need to know except for hollows are bad?" Isshin looked both of them and shook his head ever so slightly. He then told them that was pretty much the basis of what they should know Yuzu then looked at the empty chair next to her. After this brief moment she looked back to everybody and said in a slightly unconfident voice, "I-I'm tired of being the one who needs to be defended. I want to save Ichigo from Hueco Mundo. I also want to kill every hollow I see, because it is my dutie as a shinigami, Karin, will you help me?" Karin only looked at her in astonishment. Never had she seen Yuzu, her innocent, happy-go-lucky sister say anything like that. "Yuzu," Karin said solemnly, "I'll always help you." Yuzu smiled and then thanked her. After a few minutes, of more talking, the girls found themselves being told to go to bed and they did.

Isshin was still sitting at the table, thinking of what had happened earlier that day. Despite what he told the girls, he knew the truth; his son, would never come back. Isshin stared up at the ceiling and made a vow to himself, he wouldn't let his girls fight without proper training. He had made that mistake already, and he wouldn't make it again.


	3. Urahara's Deja Vu

Chapter 3 - Urahara's Deja Vu

"Yuzu!" a loud and boisterous voice echoed through the girl's rooms. Karin awakened and only stared at her, until recently useless, father, preparing to throw a large object at his forehead. When Isshin lifted Yuzu's sheets, there was nothing to be found. Frantic, Karin got up and ran out of the room – _Where could she be? Could a hollow have gotten her? – _as Karin ran down the hall she sighed in relief when she saw her sister in the kitchen, "Yuzu, what in the name of God are you doing?"

Yuzu smiled as she thrust the wooden spoon down multiple times, "I'm practicing swordsmanship!"

Karin looked at her inquisitively for a moment and reluctantly said, "Alright, you do that."

"Yuzu! My dearest and most beautiful daughter! Don't scare me like that again!" Isshin yelled as he ran into the room. Karin casually placed her foot in front of him and soon enough the result she calculated had occurred, he flew headfirst into the table. Karin's eyes widened as she pointed her finger and laughed triumphantly towards her newly-injured father. "Well, time to go girls," Isshin said with a sense of relief. Yuzu was about to utter something, but Isshin cut her off knowing what she was about to say from the scolding expression on her face, "There's no time for eating now. You two are now official substitute shinigami!" This brought miserable memories from the night before back to Yuzu, she quickly brushed these aside and put her brand new, white sneakers on her feet. She would not let bad memories get in the way of saving her brother.

The Kurosaki family, now missing two of its members walked out of their home and down the street. Isshin whiffed the air, it was a beautiful fall day, the slight breeze gently grazed his hair and the crisp feeling of the cool air tickled his nose. He knew today would be much better than the one before. As the trio of shinigami trotted along the sidewalk, a question occurred to Karin, "Hey dad, where are we going? A spot for killing hollows?", Isshin took a while to reply, but just before he did Karin almost yelled, "Hey Goat-chin! When a lady asks you a question, you answer!"

Isshin apologized for not responding and then told her that they were going to an old friend's house. Although, his delay in replying was not from wrongheadedness, he thought about how long it had been since Karin had actually called him dad and how different things would be from then on.

After what seemed like hours of walking, which in reality was only ten or so minutes of walking, Isshin, Yuzu and Karin arrived at their destination. They stood before a beaten down store in what seemed to be a deserted parking lot. They approached the door and a black cat scurried out staring at the intruders. The cat let out a soothing purr. When Karin and Yuzu glanced up, almost simultaneously they saw a single wooden sandal slide out of the store. Soon, a green coat, a striped hat and cane appeared along with unrecognizable silhouette proceed out of the sliding rice paper door. Isshin looked up at the sign above the man, "Urahara Shop" were the only words.

"Isshin Kurosaki, welcome. It's been some time, hasn't it?" the man said with joy.

"It has, hasn't it Kisuke Urahara," Isshin replied while scratching his beard nonchalantly. Urahara gestured them in and proceeded with his meaningless small talk as they sat around his small square-shaped table. Urahara, growing bored and wanting to get the point said, "Well, it has been nice catching up, but this not why we discussed you and the girls would be coming here. Jinta, Ururu, Tessai! Come here, please." Soon enough, the red haired boy, man with a mustache and little girl came in ready to do Urahara's bidding. Jinta soon exclaimed, "Yuzu! My goddess! My one true love! You have come for me, haven't you?" Tessai was quick to hit him over the head with his broom. Jinta was about to yell at the old man, but Urahara quickly scolded him, something that was very rare. As soon as this occurred Jinta silenced himself, knowing the seeming magnitude of the situation. Karin giggled, but Isshin stared at her, conveying the same thing Urahara had just said to Jinta. "Well, Yuzu, Karin your father spoke to me about the very unfortunate even that occurred the prior night and of how you wish to remedy this situation. I believe I can be of some assistance in that regard. As you may have learned, Jinta and Ururu are actually quite strong, as am I and my good friend Tessai over here," he stood up, "if you would come with me, I can show you on how I plan to help you out," The three other members of the Urahara shop followed, as did the black cat. Following suit, Isshin, Yuzu and Karin continued with their company.

They arrived in an enormous room as they went down a short flight of stairs. There were mountains, hills and pits in every direction as far as the eye could see. The girls gazed in amazement while Isshin and the members of the Urahara's shop stood there unimpressed, like they had seen it all before. Urahara nodded to Ururu and Jinta, somehow relaying something to them. The moment the received this command, they both put a glove on with the insignia of a burning skull on it and punched the two girls. Yuzu and Karin's bodies fell, but somehow they were still standing as if nothing had happened. They looked down and they were in their shinigami uniforms.

"Let us begin, shall we?" Urahara smiled.


	4. This Is Where The Fights Begin

Chapter 4 – This Is Where The Fights Begin

The small black cat purred again and started walking towards the girls. Slowly, the cat gained the form of a human, Isshin screamed in excitement when he noticed that the woman wasn't wearing any clothing. Karin almost effortlessly kicked him in the face. With a new bruise on his face, yet again, Isshin decided that he was no longer needed and left the surreal basement of the Urahara Shop. Urahara smirked, "Yoruichi, you really should be more careful about when you transform," The tall, dark skinned woman with purple hair only smiled and the disappeared. Within only a few more seconds, the woman arrived wearing a black suit with no back and no sleeves.

"Give me your zanpakuto," Yoruichi was staring at Yuzu and Karin, they looked back in confusion, "Your swords." The two girls did as they were told and Yoruichi threw them two wooden swords. "Jinta, Ururu get ready. You two, try and land at least one hit on either Jinta and Ururu and you will pass your first lesson." Karin was excited, she quickly dropped her sword from one hand to the other and ran at Jinta in a full sprint. Jinta wasn't surprised and quickly slid out of the way, pushing her onto the ground as soon as she passed her. Ururu and Yuzu only stared at eachother. Yoruichi gave Yuzu a slight nudge, she understood what she was being told. Yuzu moved towards Ururu cautiously, assuming the worst from what she saw from Jinta. Ururu only stood there, expressionless. Yuzu quickly swung her blade of wood down slowly when Ururu caught it with is she said, "Please, fight with everything your hand. If you do not I will forced to attack you," surprised, Yuzu drew her sword back and went at her again.

Both girls went at their opponent for the next few minutes without landing one hit. Now though, Yuzu was starting to have fun, in all of the excitement she thought of a new tactic, she lowered her sword again, just as slow as the first time and when the pigtailed girl caught it again, she raised her fist and sent it rocketing towards Ururu's face. It was a perfect shot, but the Ururu stood there unperturbed, this Yuzu went at her again. Yoruichi appeared instantaneously and stopped Yuzu, "Congratulations, you passed faster than your brother did," Yuzu smiled and bowed, watching her sister and Jinta's fight.

"You suck, how the hell could you be Ichigo's sister?" enraged, Karin went at her enemy again, her efforts were futile. Fed up with playing around, Jinta punched the girl in the stomach as a warning to hurry it up. Infuriated, Karin scream and a burst of reiatsu sprung from her, astonishing Jinta just long enough for her to land a blow with her sword to the side of his neck. He fell down and she laughed, "Take that you pepper-haired bastard!"

Jinta quickly arose, "Looks like you don't suck as much," he spat on the ground and rubbed his neck,"I thought you did," he walked back to Yoruichi when he noticed Ururu doing the same thing. Yuzu had already recovered her breath, but Karin was exhausted, panting heavily. Using her sword as a pseudo-walking stick, Karin leaned against it and looked up at Yoruichi, about to ask what the next test was, but Yoruichi had anticipated this and said, "You both have a lot of work to do with swordmanship," Yoruichi directed her gaze at Karin, "but that is to be expected on the first day. The next milestone we need to establish is your ability to control your reiatsu, I can tell you both have a great deal, but that doesn't have a huge amount of importance," Urahara, who was standing in the corner, overseeing everything quietly threw two golf ball sized objects to Yoruichi, she caught the without hesitating and continued, "I want you to channel your reiatsu into these two objects and try to replicate their shape,"

Yoruichi gave the objects to Yuzu and Karin. The girls carefully examined the devices, they were small black pyramids, aside from that they couldn't detect anything else; no secret buttons, no lights, nothing. Confident in her abilities, Yuzu quickly tried to do what she was told, transferring as much reiatsu she could into the object in her hand, a technique she knew how to do almost instinctively, but she had no success in replicating the shape. Karin stared at her sister anxiously, she had taken much longer than Yuzu to complete the previous test and even she was having trouble with the task at hand. Karin had then cast all fear aside and attempted creating the pyramid like she was told. As soon as she started pouring the energy she never knew she had, the energy that had been locked inside of her since she was born into the object, she pictured a pyarmid in her hand and the image started to manifest itself into reality as the small black pyramid in her hand started to rise and a larger, translucent triangle with a hint of orange in it started to encompass it. Karin screamed in excitement, "Yay!"

Yuzu started at her sister, now disappointed in her lack of ability. Karin felt this, almost telepathically and walked up to Yuzu, "Just picture what you want to make in your head and shape your energy," Urahara interuppted explaining the proper term was reiatsu, ". . . reiatsu to resemble it," Yuzu nodded, not really knowing what she was doing, but tried. She closed her eyes and focused on nothing but the image of a pyramid in her head, soon enough the pyramid in her hand levitated and a faint blue shape formed around it started to form. Her eyes widened, but as soon as the reiatsu pyarmid formed, it vanished and the original object fell. A solemn face slowly appeared on Yuzu, but Urahara quickly intervened, "Ah, do not worry Yuzu, most people can't even channel their reiatsu when they just begin," Yuzu had guessed as much but knew that she had to do better if she was going to save her brother. Unfortunately for her, she was already gone.


	5. Phoenix Down

Chapter 5 – Phoenix Down

_How much longer can I survive here? I've been fighting for at least a day without stopping, _Ichigo brought his thin black blade down upon an unfortunate hollow. Quickly, more hollows came at him, he noticed that the more he killed, the more came. There was no ending this. Ichigo jump back and placed a his hand a few inches above his head, soon a dark, almost evil reiatsu started to form. Soon enough, a mask, like one you would see a child wear on a chilly Halloween night appeared. Ichigo's energy levels raised exponentially, at first the hollows surrounding him were frightened and drew back, but then continued in their assault.

Ichigo laughed at their pity attempt, whenever he wore his mask, he seemed to enjoy fighting more than he would have in a normal situation. His blade slid across the chest of a large hollow that resembled a fox, as the blood poured out of it, while his enemies could not quite see it because of his mask, Ichigo was smiling. Another came, this time he lopped off a leg, then another; he fancied its mask, so he ripped it off. Ichigo then realized what he was doing. That instinct, the instinct of a killer, the instinct of an animal was taking him over and this time, he couldn't stop no matter how hard he tried.

Ichigo let out a wild scream as an enormous explosion surrounded him and engulfed all of the hollows that were trying to kill him. Ichigo raised his head as he felt a sharp pain in his chest, he saw none other than his counterpart, his alter ego, the one he hated more than anything else in the world.

"Welcome back, king," the beast uttered. His skin was pure white, his eyes were black and yellow, his tongue was blue, but in all other aspects he looked the exact same as Ichigo. The same hair, the same body and the same. . . sword. The sword that had helped Ichigo from the time that he first left Urahara's training to save Rukia, the sword that let him defeat Grimmjow and protect Nel was now lodged in his chest. Ichigo could feel his heartbeat slowing, unable to do anything but look up at his hollow, himself.

The hollows had ceased their onslaught when they noticed the figure that stood before them. It had a long orange mane, a tail and claws that could cut steel as easily as a hot knife could move through butter. They only stared at the beast, but only for a moment as it disappeared behind the largest one in the group and gorged itself on the hollows head. He was not yet satiated, he then went for the next hollow, and the other. Soon enough, each and every one of them were gone. Still not satisfied, it went off in search for a new meal.

"H-How?"

"Don't you remember, Ichigo? As soon as the chance came, I would take your body for myself! And now, I have," Ichigo looked as if he had seen a ghost, his skin became paler, he felt sick; was it the blood loss? Something else? The hollow looked down at him with a sense of sinister excitement in his eye, "Do not worry, horse. One day you might take your spot back, but until then, you're mine," Ichigo could feel himself getting weaker, he looked down and his body was beginning to fade away and grow into what was now the hollow's zanpakuto. When only Ichigo's head remained, his sworn enemy snickered and walked away. Ichigo was gone.


	6. The Fights Have Begun

Chapter 6 – The Fights Have Begun

"You've both done very well," Urahara cheered, while performing a slow but loud clap for both of them, "Now, with that being said, I believe it is time for you to go, but before you go, I'd like you two to have these," Urahara handed them both a badge like one you would see a Boy Scout wear with the same insignia that were on Jinta and Ururu's gloves.

Urahara was quickly interuppted, "Wait! That's it? No bankai? No real fighting, are you kidding me? All we get are these little trinkets?" Karin retorted. Urahara smiled at this, she was just like Ichigo; rushing through everything. Urahara simply shook his head and said a few things to comfort her. Still not satisfied, but accepting of the situation, after returning to her body, Karin left the room with Yuzu at hand.

"And that's how I almost beat Aizen," Tessai said briskly to Isshin when he noticed the man's two daughters arrival. Isshin said his goodbyes to Tessai and took the girls out of the Urahara shop. Both girls looked at him, they noticed that he looked more serious than usual. _I guess it's expected_, Karin thought, _everybody has been feeling the same way_. There walk was quiet, each of them still restless with the fact that yet another member of their family was gone, each of them knew this was what was on the others' minds which gave them a sense of placidness.

Isshin decided to break the silence, "So, what did you two do down there while I was upstairs?" The girls retold the events and Isshin muttered under his breath, "Who would have thought my violent, physical daughter would have sucked at combat and been good at kidou?" Karin heard him and was about to hurt him, but she quickly sensed something. Isshin did too. Both of them looked at where their senses directed them and as expected, a hollow was appearing. Yuzu wondered why both of them had stopped and hurried back with a confused look on her face. Karin tapped her shoulder, pointing to the direction in which the hollow was coming from.

Yuzu immediately noticed how much smaller the hollow was then the one they encountered the previous night. She looked at her father, expecting him to save them again, but he stood there and did nothing. Both girls were looking at him now and he said, "I'm not always going to be here to help, this hollow is weak, and I know you two can take it," Isshin pointed to the badges that were handed to them only a few minutes ago by the strange man who wore sandals, "Use those to turn into shinigami," Yuzu quickly raised hers into the sky above her head as the sunlight made it glisten, but nothing happened. Isshin quickly instructed them how to use it and they then hit their chests with the small, bronze objects. Soon enough, their living bodies fell and they stood their as shinigami.

Karin glanced back at her father for reassurance when she noticed her sister was already charging towards the beast. Karin quickly joined Yuzu, she wasn't letting her get hurt, that was her duty. Yuzu quickly drew her blade, and hopped many feet into the air with ease. As the blonde-haired girl raised her arms above her head, the hollow tried to defend itself with one of its four arms. Yuzu cut it off with no second thoughts and went straight for the hollows head to be grabbed by one of the other arms.

Karin was frightened, but knew what she had to do, now at a full sprint, she went to rescue her sister. An arm came down at her, but she blocked it. Brushing the gargantuan arm off to the side, inflicting a small wound at the same time, she stabbed the hollow's other arm that was holding Yuzu. It let out a cry so loud and high-pitched that Karin had to cover her ears. Yuzu remained imperturbable and scrambled to the monsters head. She raised her sword over her head and let it down into her newest enemy's skull. The sound of the cracking mask gave her some sort of pleasure, and she continued to dig deeper, twisting her sword gently to break the mask completely.

Isshin noticed what she was doing and quickly grabbed her. The hollow's mask broke and started to fade away. Karin looked up. She knew why the hollow was so small, she knew why it screamed in such pain, she knew why her father had grabbed Yuzu. It was a child, no older than six or seven. Karin was horrified, but soon saw a smile work its way onto the little boy's face and finally disappear.

Yuzu saw the blue orb, which she instinctively knew was a soul rise up to the sky, but then she asked her father why he grabbed her – she thought she was doing fine. Isshin replied, "Do not ever go directly for a hollow's mask. You could get more hurt than you would ever imagine," Yuzu returned to her old, cheerful self and tried to inquire more, but her father asserted himself and left it at that. Karin needed no explanation as to why one shouldn't go for the mask.


End file.
